Law needs to be reformed
Law-enforcement reform is long overdue.
Today’s hiring and vetting practices need a complete overhaul. We should not be recruiting people with strong authoritarian tendencies – but we also should not be hiring fragile personalities who cannot handle pressure. Policing requires balanced individuals: people who understand that the job carries inherent risks and that injury is an occupational hazard, no different than firefighting, military service or high-risk construction work.
Firefighters get injured. Construction workers get killed. Soldiers get wounded. Risk alone does not justify the use of excessive force, nor does it excuse poor judgment. Law enforcement is no different.
Yet, we continue to accept the wrong people into policing because agencies lower standards rather than improve them. The excuse is always the same: “If we raise the bar, we won’t be able to hire anyone.” And that leads to an even harder truth – what morally grounded, intelligent professional will accept enormous responsibility, public scrutiny and legal exposure for wages that often don’t match the risk?
So instead of fixing the system, we dilute it.
Complaining without offering solutions is a failure of leadership. Real reform requires accountability, measurable standards, and the courage to change what isn’t working.
In my own rural community, a corrections officer was killed with his own weapon because basic safety procedures were not followed. Instead of confronting those failures and implementing corrective action, the system did what it too often does: it made excuses, created a hero narrative and even promoted supervisors whose leadership failures contributed to the death.
That isn’t honor. That is institutional narcissism.
This pattern persists because we are putting the wrong people in positions of trust – people selected by a broken hiring and promotion culture that rewards loyalty over competence and image over accountability.
Until we fix who we hire, how we vet and how we promote, no amount of policy reform will save lives – neither the public’s nor the officers’.
Ed Figueroa, Ranger
Real HAVEN for children
Every year, hundreds of children in our community experience the unimaginable: abuse, sexual assault, human trafficking and severe neglect. The trauma of these experiences is life-altering. With your help, HAVEN can help offer a path to healing and hopefully justice.
HAVEN Children’s Advocacy Center provides a safe, child-friendly environment where victims can tell their story to a trained forensic interviewer, minimizing further trauma during the investigation process. Working with a dedicated multidisciplinary team of professionals, including law enforcement, social workers, medical experts, and mental health providers. HAVEN ensures that these brave children and their families receive the support they need to navigate the difficult road ahead.
Your past support, or your consideration of a new gift, makes this vital work possible. A donation to HAVEN goes directly toward providing free, comprehensive services to children and families in crisis, including:
- Forensic interviews in a supportive setting.
- Medical evaluations conducted by specially trained medical staff.
- Mental health referrals and support to help children heal from trauma.
- Victim and family advocacy to guide families through investigation and court proceedings.
We are in need of support to sustain and expand these critical programs. Would you consider a financial gift today to help us continue providing hope and healing to the most vulnerable members of our community? You can donate online through the official HAVEN website at havencac.org, by scanning the QR code, or by mailing a check to the address below. Your contribution is tax-deductible, as HAVEN is a 501(c)(3) nonprofit organization.
For details or to discuss how your specific contribution will make an impact, please feel free to call us at 828-837-5872 or email director@havencac.org.
Thank you for your generosity and for helping us make a lasting difference in a child’s life.
Courtney Myers, Murphy
The writer is executive director of HAVEN Children’s Advocacy Center in Peachtree.
Handicapped need parking
This is a response to the question about parking in downtown Murphy.
I have a daughter who has been in a wheelchair for the last six months. The two times we have been downtown, we have struggled to find handicap parking, as well as when we do the spaces are so close together we struggle to get in and out of our vehicle.
This issue is a real problem for many. This is the parking issue that needs the greatest coverage.
Joyce Gerstman, Marble
Make 2026 better, God
I’m responding to Michael Bledsoe of Murphy concerning my advertisement, “Israel, Zionism and the Great Deception.”
Sir, you accused me of lying and spreading hate. Accusing someone publicly of lying without providing evidence is libelous. Irrelevant ad hominem attacks rarely convince those focused on logic and evidence.
You said, “With the help of Microsoft Copilot, I reviewed the advertisement’s claims against established evidence.” What claims are you referring to? What established evidence? Established by whom? You didn’t say.
You went on to say, “... most of its conclusions fall into a low probability” range when weighted against historical facts.” Well, I guess that settles that, huh?
Sir, that’s merely your opinion. When you accuse someone of lying, you need to provide e-v-i-d-e-n-c-e. You did not, not a shred of evidence. Not one “historical fact.” You’re embarrassing yourself. Murphy residents may live in a small town, but we don’t have small minds. No one is going to believe you until you can back up your accusations with facts.
Apparently, you didn’t read the last two articles I wrote, where I provided voluminous historical and biblical evidence for the Diaspora. The Northern Ten Tribes aren’t called “The Lost Ten Tribes of Israel” for nothing. When the Khazars converted to Judaism, their DNA didn’t magically become Hebrew. Khazars are Eastern European Caucasian proselyte Jews.
And God never promised Europeans anything. They were never the indigenous people of Palestine.
Please, I beg you, show me scientific evidence of even one Jew who can trace their ancestry back to 1200 B.C.E. Just one.
You accused me of being “historically inaccurate.” Please provide your evidence.
You accused me of “spreading hate.” Please quote my hateful statements. Truth is hate to those who hate the truth.
Christ is King.
Mary Mason, Murphy
The best president
Someone asked what I thought of President Donald Trump. As a lucubration studier of our presidents, I said, “I wouldn’t want him teaching my children’s Sunday school class, but he is the greatest president America has ever had.” Consider where we’re at.
The brain-dead voters of New York City elected a Muslim socialist to govern their city. Instead of the Holy Bible, he laid his hand on the Koran at his swearing in, a boo --k that calls for war 117 times and the beating, stoning and subjugation of woman to name a few. His collectivist principles are in line with the teaching of Marx. So, where are we headed?
Consider how many people have died under the governments of Lenin, Mao, Stalin and Castro to name a few. How did they come to power? Castro is a close parallel to Mandami.
Fidel’s father was a prosperous businessman, and he grew up in comfort and privilege. At a young age, he took his first try at revolution. In 1953, he tried to overthrow the government of Batista. His followers portrayed him as a Marxist leading a consumer revolt protesting high electric bills to name a few.
In 1957, while hiding in the hills, he was interviewed by bilious Herbert Matthews, a reporter with The New York Times. He wrote that Castro was fighting for a democratic Cuba, a Cuba of liberty and social justice. Che Guevara (Fidel’s chief executioner) would later say Matthew’s articles put new life into Fidel’s movement.
On New Year’s Day 1959, the island belonged to him. In April 1959, he declared on NBC’s Meet the Press, “Democracy is my ideal. I am not a communist.” He would later tell the truth when he said, “I am a Marxist-Leninist and will be till death.” -
Dan Rather called him “Cuba’s Elvis.” Without Trump, we would all be singing “Don’t Cry for Me Argentina.”
Ed Huber, Copperhill, Tenn.
Why we are in Venezuela
President Donald Trump started laying the groundwork for his Venezuelan conquest shortly after taking office one year ago. He began rounding them up by saying they were all criminals and a threat to our safety.
The percentage of crimes in our country are much higher among home-grown folks than among immigrants. Venezuelans compose one of the smaller number of immigrants, and their percentage of crimes among immigrants is one of the lowest.
Next, we started blowing up boats that supposedly contained fentanyl. The boats more than likely contained cocaine and headed for Europe.
We were led to believe that Venezuela was one of the major suppliers of illegal drugs coming into this country. Not near true. The large majority of drugs comes from other countries by way of Mexico.
Trump pardoned ex-Honduran president Juan Orlando Hernández, who was convicted of trafficking roughly 400 tons of cocaine into the United States. Trump gave his reasonings for the pardon by saying, “You take any country you want, if someone sells drugs in that country,
that doesn’t mean you arrest the president.” What changed?
We have gone into Venezuela and captured President Nicolás Maduro. Trump said Maduro is a major supplier of drugs coming into our country. Trump also said he is not the legitimate president.
Maduro lost his re-election bid but stayed in office. Most of the international community doesn’t recognize his legitimacy because of his conduct in his last election.
But the conquest of Venezuela is not about drugs or Maduro’s legitimacy to rule. It’s about oil and Cuba.
Cuba’s economy remains weak and is heavily dependent on Venezuelan oil and more than likely crash when we cut off their supply. Secretary of State Marco Rubio (of Cuban parents) must be salivating. If the American military has boots on the ground anywhere, it will be in Cuba.
Curtis Brown, Murphy
Accept God’s salvation gift
What if God gave a need card to every needy person that would allow them to go and buy free of charge everything they needed for their daily provisions. The only drawback would be they could not purchase things that they wanted and if they did the card would no longer work because they were disobedient to God’s instructions.
When I read about the Israelites that were in the wilderness when Moses had just set them free from slavery and how God provided for their daily need of manna from heaven and yet all they did was complain and because they did God told Moses that His people would stay in the wilderness for 40 years, instead of the 11-day trip it would have taken them to get to the promised land.
There is a price to pay for disobeying God’s commands. Now on a lighter note God has given us a gift card that will never expire, a gift that keeps on giving for eternity if one accepts God’s gracious plan of salvation. This gift was paid in full when Jesus Christ died on the cross so that you would be able to enjoy this precious gift forevermore. This offer is only good to those who step out of darkness into God’s glorious light of love and grace.
Don’t pass up this deal of a lifetime. It’s only good until Jesus returns to gather His children and take them home to heaven. Do yourself a favor this new year and come as you are. God has been waiting a long time for you to get right with Him. Please don’t disappoint Him. He loves you so much.
Frank Combs, Blairsville, Ga.
Toys for Tots helps 1,235
Many thanks to the Cherokee Scout for promoting our Toys for Tots events in the local newspaper.
Because of volunteers like you, we were able to help 1,235 children have a brighter Christmas.
Susie Evans, Murphy
The writer is assistant coordinator